Erin Flannery discusses Taste of Somerville, her sales job, and what's new at the Holiday Inn

The indoor pool at the Holiday Inn Somerville is across from the Grand Ballroom.

Holiday Inn Somerville

This will be Erin Flannery’s first Taste of Somerville event. She joined the Holiday Inn Somerville last November as their catering sales manager, after having worked 11 years in catering in New Hampshire. And what will the hotel’s executive chef, Andrew Wilbur, be serving up tomorrow night? New England clam chowder.

“This year, we have a few new things,” she explained. “There will be a large tent outside, to alleviate congestion and provide some seating. We’re having two bands, and there will be a coffee and water station. Also, the Davis Square restaurants will all be in the Atrium, which opens to the tent. And we’ll be giving out the goodie bags at the end of the event, not the beginning.”

Erin’s job consists of selling weddings and other social events (showers, class reunions, breakfast meetings, quincineras, and the occasional post-funeral gathering) to people and businesses within a 30-mile radius. She gets out into the community a few days a week, and when she’s at the hotel, she typically has three to four appointments with people, to see the event spaces, go over menus, etc. She may be working on as many as 10 events in any one week. “We do lots of pool parties on the weekend, and we can accommodate two a day.”

The strangest event she’s ever catered? “In my last job, it was for collectors of McDonald’s toys!” The best part of her job? “Being very social, except for the occasional funeral. Every day is different!”

The hotel has two dining spots, the Nantucket Grill, specializing in seafood and New England home cooking, and Night Games, which has a nightclub vibe, with a dance floor, live entertainment, large TVs, and video games. According to Erin, this space will be redone into a sports bar by the end of this year.

The Holiday Inn Somerville (holidayinn.com/somervillema), on Washington Street, just south of Union Square and all its bars and restaurants, has nine floors with 184 rooms and a lovely indoor pool that anyone can use by buying a day pass. The property is close to Sullivan Station and only 2 miles from downtown Boston.

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Linda J. Mazurek's love of food was born during her junior year abroad in Paris and Rouen, where she especially fell in love with fresh crusty baguettes and unsalted butter. She is still looking for a good baguette in the U.S. In the meantime, she feeds her love of food by writing about it. Since late 2006, she has published 22 food-and-wine related articles, both online and in print, about local companies, restaurants and products.